An Empirical Look At Developmental Interventions And Student Performance In The First Intermediate Accounting Course

Due to concerns about student performance in Intermediate Accounting I, our Department of Accounting established an Intermediate Readiness Committee in the spring of 2006 to create a developmental program for students entering Intermediate I, with the goal of improving performance in that course.  Over the next two years, the Committee established the Developmental Program with two escalating interventions to improve performance in Intermediate I.  These interventions were comprised of readiness testing with study sessions and readiness testing with use of developmental software.  This study reports the impact these interventions had on student performance in Intermediate I.  The authors control for gender, grades earned in each of the two accounting principles courses, whether the student took Principles II at school of study or transferred the course credit from another school, and overall undergraduate grade point average upon entering Intermediate I.  Results indicate that each intervention resulted in significantly higher grades than observed in a Base Period without intervention

Curriculum and Instructional Methods for Drug Information, Literature Evaluation, and Biostatistics: Survey of U.S. Pharmacy Schools

BACKGROUND: The drug information curriculum in US colleges of pharmacy continues to evolve. The American College of Clinical Pharmacy (ACCP) Drug Information Practice and Research Network (DI PRN) published an opinion paper with specific recommendations regarding drug information education in 2009. Adoption of these recommendations has not been evaluated. OBJECTIVE: To assess which recommendations made in the ACCP DI PRN opinion paper are included in US pharmacy school curricula and characterize faculty qualifications, educational methods, and recent changes in drug information education. METHODS: An electronic survey was designed using the ACCP DI PRN opinion paper and the Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education standards and guidelines for accreditation of PharmD programs in the US. Survey questions addressed curricular content within the following categories: drug information, literature evaluation, and biostatistics. A letter including the online survey link was sent via email to the dean of each US college/school of pharmacy (N = 128). Recipients were instructed to forward the email to the individual at their institution who was the most knowledgeable about the content and methodology used for didactic drug information education. RESULTS: Sixty-four responses were included in the final analysis. Of the 19 ACCP DI PRN minimum core concepts, 9 (47%) were included in curricula of all responding institutions; 14 of 19 (74%) were included in curricula for all but 1 institution. In contrast, 5 of 16 concepts (31%) were not formally taught by a number of institutions. Many respondents noted an increased focus on evidence-based medicine, medication safety, and informatics. CONCLUSIONS: Although a survey of drug information curricula documented substantial inclusion of the essential concepts presented in the ACCP DI PRN opinion paper, room for improvement remains in drug information curricula in US colleges of pharmacy

Infiltration Through Reconstructed Surface Mined Spoils and Soils

An extensive series of tests involving reconstructed profiles of spoil and topsoil material from a Western Kentucky surface mine site was conducted with a laboratory infiltrometer system. Infiltration through the reconstructed spoil profiles was very slow despite the coarse nature of the material. Low infiltration rates could be attributed to the material having a well-graded texture and to the high densities of the profiles. Infiltration through topsoil horizons was controlled, for the most part, by conditions at the surface. Following wetting, infiltration rates were primarily controlled by the hydraulic characteristics of the less permeable sub horizon of the spoil material. Except in very early stages, rainfall rate had little effect upon infiltration rate (or volume) through the spoil and topsoil profiles. Infiltration was, however, significantly influenced by initial moisture content and density

Barriers and facilitators to hepatitis C virus (HCV) treatment for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples in rural South Australia : a service providers' perspective

This study explored the barriers and facilitators to hepatitis C virus (HCV) treatment for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples in rural South Australia as viewed from a healthcare provider perspective in the era of direct acting antivirals (DAAs). Phase 1 was a qualitative systematic review examining the barriers and enablers to diagnosis and treatment amongst Indigenous peoples living with HCV worldwide. Phase 2 was a qualitative descriptive study with healthcare workers from six de-identified rural and regional Aboriginal Community-Controlled Health Services in South Australia. The results from both methods were integrated at the analysis phase to understand how HCV treatment could be improved for rural Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. Five main themes emerged: the importance of HCV education, recognizing competing social and cultural demands, the impact of holistic care delivery and client experience, the effect of internal barriers, and overlapping stigma, discrimination, and shame determine how Indigenous peoples navigate the healthcare system and their decision to engage in HCV care. Continued efforts to facilitate the uptake of DAA medications by Aboriginal and Torres Strait peoples in rural areas should utilize a multifaceted approach incorporating education to community and cultural awareness to reduce stigma and discrimination

Predicting Infiltration and Surface Runoff from Reconstructed Spoils and Soils

A laboratory system was fabricated to measure infiltration and runoff from spoil and soil profiles constructed in rectangular bins. Construction, calibration and operation of a rainfall simulator is discussed and instrumentation used to measure transient infiltration and transmittance of water through experimental profiles is described. Spoil and soil materials from surface mines in Eastern and Western Kentucky were transported to the laboratory and used in constructing experimental profiles in rectangular bins (0.91 x 1.83 x 1.07 m). An extensive series of infiltration experiments were conducted utilizing a rainfall simulator and soil moisture monitoring instrumentation. A dual probe gamma density gauge was used to measure moisture content and tensiometers were used to measure soil matric suction. Initial moisture content, bulk density and rainfall rate were varied and respective responses of infiltration characteristics determined. Extremely low infiltration rates in Western Kentucky spoil material was attributed to relatively high bulk densities and well-graded particle constituency. Conversely, extremely high infiltration rates were observed for Eastern Kentucky shale material even at very high bulk densities. The sandstone material, however, exhibited infiltration rates of the same order of magnitude as that of Western Kentucky spoil material. Soil water characteristic curves were developed using the Brooks-Corey and Gardner procedures, based upon desortpion tensiometer data. Unsaturated hydraulic conductivity values were determined using the plane of zero flux procedure and compared with predictions resulting from models described by Campbell, Burdine and Mualem for situations involving reconstructed soil and spoil materials. There was generally good agreement between the models and plane of zero flux results, and excellent agreement with Campbell\u27s predictions. The infiltration process was modeled with the SCS curve number method, a modified form of Holtan\u27s equation, the Green-Ampt model and Richard\u27s equation. SCS curve numbers were determined by fitting the method to the observed results. Richards\u27 equation gave very good estimates of the infiltration process through the spoil profiles, but was only slightly better than the Green-Ampt model. None .of the models worked well for the profiles where macropore flow occurred through a two layer topsoil over spoil system